(Headline USA) An adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said this week that the leftist lawmaker would consider running for president again in 2024 if President Joe Biden decides not to run.
“I assume that he would give it a hard look,” Faiz Shakir told CBS News when asked if Sanders has any 2024 aspirations. “I don’t want to make a judgment for him. Obviously, it would be his choice to make. But I assume that he would want to reevaluate it.”
Asked whether Sanders’s age would affect his decision at all, Shakir said the senator is “very aware that he’s older now,” but still confident to hold office.
“He’d have to make a real judgment about his own vigor and his stamina and his desire and hunger and passion to do this a third time,” Shakir said. “But if it were an open field? Yeah, I’m confident he would take another look at it.”
Sanders ran for the Democrat nomination in 2016 and 2020, losing first to Hillary Clinton and then to Biden.
Biden has not announced whether he plans to run for reelection in 2024, though the White House insists that his plan is to seek the presidency again.
“Personally, I take President Biden at his word and our orbit takes him at his word that he’s taking it seriously and presume that he is leaning toward yes,” Shakir said.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain said earlier this week that Biden will make an announcement about 2024 after the holidays, and said the whole Biden family supports his plans.
“The president will make that decision. I expect it shortly after the holiday,” Klain said. “I expect the decision will be to do it.”
